Just thought I'd advise the panel that we had our Terrier Club Board
of Directors meeting yesterday and, as promised, I brought up the
problem of our not having a fight song or a pep band. I was surprised
at how much instant support I had. In fact, RJ said we now have a
fight song (just written by Pres. Dunlap) and that they are trying to
solicit enough students for a band and may even use outsiders, if
necessary. I can tell you this seems to be a hot issue and apparently
it is being addressed by the school. Hopefully we'll see som activity
this season. Incidentally, I have not heard the fight song but someone
told me it is similar to Army's. Keep your fingers crossed.

It would be nice to have a little more spirit involved in the games- if the source of the musicians is outside the school, who cares? It presents a good opportunity for the school and the musicians as well.

Almost anything would be better than the part of the Nebraska fight song that goes:

Dear old Nebraska U
Where the girls are the fairest
The boys are the squarest
Of any old place that I knew

or maybe Johns Hopkins:

To Win, to win,
You'd like like Hell to win.
But you'll have to wait,
'Til the moon turns green,
And the Brass Band plays "God Shave the Dean"!
Hi-lo, Hi-lee,
It's plain as A-B-C,
If anyone's going to win today,
It's we, we, we!

I still say we needs some pyrotechnics. Maybe some fireworks and smoke. If we want to be "big time" we need to look "big time". Besides, it would be a great help in getting our crowd to make some noise.

terriers wrote:Just thought I'd advise the panel that we had our Terrier Club Boardof Directors meeting yesterday and, as promised, I brought up theproblem of our not having a fight song or a pep band. I was surprisedat how much instant support I had. In fact, RJ said we now have afight song (just written by Pres. Dunlap) and that they are trying tosolicit enough students for a band and may even use outsiders, ifnecessary. I can tell you this seems to be a hot issue and apparentlyit is being addressed by the school. Hopefully we'll see som activitythis season. Incidentally, I have not heard the fight song but someonetold me it is similar to Army's. Keep your fingers crossed.

Terriers!!
Thank you for the update, and thanks to the board for their advocacy!
I'm getting "goose bumps" envisioning the guys entering the stadium to the sounds of an up tempo, old school fight song-with(I'm with you "Eyes"!)some really cool "pyros"!

I think one thing that has hampered a pep band is, clearly, numbers of students and money. Paying the participants seems like a reasonable possibility, but not one that's without expense. So, just like everything else, I guess it comes down to how the college wants to allocate resources.

For basketball, a small band that's well rehearsed could make plenty of noise. But in Gibbs Stadium, it may be tougher.

Still, there are possibilities. Many high school bands, I think, travel to competitions on weekends, but there may be some that don't. There also may be adults in the community who could play and would enjoy it.

As for showy, glitzy stuff, I'm not real wild about it. What makes for a great football or basketball atmosphere, in my opinion, is a good team and fans who show up and cheer. Fans coming into the stadium before kickoff and standing up and cheering -- which seem to be lacking now -- will do more for Wofford football that "big-time" glitz, I would argue.

I agree that we have great fans (passionate and knowledgeable), but will also agree that they don't make much noise. Wofford's size makes it tough to draw big crowds since there aren't many graduates, but Furman and The Citadel seem to have overcome that.

While glitzy features such as smoke, pyrotechics, etc. might make it seem like we're trying too hard, it would give a feel more like the bigger schools (and they obviosuly have less attendance problems than we do).

What I see it boiling down to is that Wofford games need to become entertainment events gear towards the broadest audience possible. To do that, we should strive to have "something for everyone". Great football, great stadium, easy parking are all in place. A band, better halftime shows, fancier intros, etc. would help get things to the next level.

If Wofford is going to take it's game attendance and atmosphere from the level of Elon, Western Carolina and Samford and move it to the level of The Citadel, Furman and Appalachian State, then we will have to make changes to intice more people to come who aren't previosuly attached to the College. It's a "chicken before the egg" problem, but one that could be solved with some effort and properly directed resources.